jrmflintlock
45 Cal.
It is hard to believe that I let 4 years go by without chasing the old Thunder Chicken! I always said, “If I could only hunt one species for the rest of my life, it would be the long beard!” Well No more excuses. The 2016 season was awesome even if it only lasted 2 days for me! It will be one I will always remember.
After a long drive to Oregon where my buddy Kent and his family live, I thought to myself as I drifted off to sleep the night before opening morning, “Even if I don’t kill a bird, it was worth the trip!” It did my heart good to see my good friend and his family. To spend time with them in a little piece of heaven made by our Creators hand was awesome and I was blessed to have the opportunity. I had not hunted with my friend in 16 years and time spent with good friends is time well spent!
After the standard pre hunt night of waking every hour, opening morning finally arrived! Since we had not been able to roost any birds and the weather was still forecasting cold and wet, we decided not to rush out at first light. Both Kent and I were up well before we said we were going to get up in anticipation. The Forecast was right on for once as we headed to the turkey woods. Kent said we would try and locate some birds he had been seeing and make plans from there. As we climbed higher into the mountains the rain turned to snow and the land turned white. Beautiful as it was, it was not going to help the hunt. We gave it our best, braving the conditions, we saw a lot of birds but the cold and wet did not have them thinking about love, AT ALL!!
The next morning broke clear and cool. We noticed as we were getting into the truck to leave that all the little song birds were singing their hearts out. We knew today would be different. As we stopped at the last place we saw three toms the day before the sun peaked over the horizon. Kent let out a string of hen yelps and the birds thundered a response!! We looked at the situation and decided there was too much to go wrong where we were so we decided to try a different area. We tried to locate birds at several locations to no avail.
We drove until the road was impassible with snow drifts and then hiked out to a little point to call. Immediately several toms thundered back. They were on the ridge to the North with a deep canyon between us. Kent said we did not want to bail off into the canyon, but there was a road that was also blocked with snow that we could walk. After looking at the maps, and figuring it was a 3.5 mile walk we decided to go for it.
Knowing it would be a long haul, we made a couple of sandwiches, loaded up with water, grabbed the necessary gear and headed out. The first mile was over snow drifts with as much as 2 feet of hard snow. Gradually the snow drifts receded as the road shifted to an east/west direction. As we made our way we could hear the sound of male ruffed grouse drumming up a storm to attract a mate. The Warm spring air had brought love into the air once again. Luckily Kent knew the area well, several times I thought to myself, “this would be a perfect place to set up”, but Kent knew where we needed to be and that we still had a ways to go. Finally we reached a large opening. Kent slowed to a crawl as we eased to the edge. Kent let out a crow call to see if the birds would shock gobble but the meadow was silent.
Kent said that there is another meadow further down the ridge line and that the birds may be there so we quietly made our way to the next meadow. Slowly we eased to the edge of the second opening. Kent crow called again. And again we heard no response. With no birds responding to the crow calls we decided to try setting up and hen calling.
After setting out a hen decoy and finding good places to sit, Kent softly yelped, but there was no response. After a few minutes he yelped a little louder, and again there was no response. On the third round he got real aggressive and yelped as loud as he could, this time the toms Thundered back!! Three from further down the ridge and one from the ridge where the truck was parked on! Go figure! After a little back and forth we could tell the gobblers did not want to come to us, so we moved toward them.
Kent yelped softly. This time we were close enough that the toms could not resist and they thundered back with lustful gobbles! As I sat there, I thought my heart would jump from my chest with every gobble. These toms were Hot and gobbled and double gobbled at every sweet hen sound Kent made. Finally I saw two longbeards come strutting into a small opening about 80 yards out. I was ready! All they needed to do was come in another 50 yards and I would have a shot. Now I could see that they were both magnificent long bearded Thunder Chickens! 30 more yards! 20 More Yards!
Suddenly the birds trotted left and out of my field of fire! Kent called to them aggressively to get them to change direction but they only gobble as they faded into the timber. I shifted my position to try and get a shot but the trees were too thick. Kent’s yelps pleaded with them to return. But there was only silence!
I turned to look at Kent and we both shrugged. What could have gone wrong? Had they been called in before? Did they spook when they saw the decoy? Did they see me? As we gathered our stuff, all these questions ran through my mind. Questions I figured would never get answered.
Kent said, “ there was three birds over here earlier, maybe we can call in the other bird?” We slowly moved further down the ridge into another meadow. This particular meadow was full of turkey tracks and droppings; there were even strut marks on the road. It was a strut zone, and a heavily used one at that. Kent wanted to get closer to where he thought that other bird might be so we kept going.
Suddenly we heard an UTV coming down an old spur road toward us. To not spook the birds with talking we got off the road a ways and let the other hunter drive past us. We could hear them talking as they drove past us. Kent thought they looked like bear hunters as they were not in full camo. Unfortunately they noisily drove off in the direction we had planned to go after the other bird. Darn it!!
Kent thought for a moment and said, “That is what spooked those birds, They heard that UTV coming long before we did and did not want to be caught in the open.” We decided that since the meadow we had just passed through was a major strut zone, as soon as things calmed down they would be back. So we found a spot to set up on the edge of the zone and sat down. We took out our sandwiches and quietly ate a snack. The birds were singing and the sun was shining. It was a beautiful day to be in the turkey woods with a good friend!
As I finished my sandwich and took a drink of nice cold water, Kent said “Did you hear that Gobble!?!?” My hearing is terrible so shook my head in the negaitive, I halfway thought he was pulling my leg. He said “Get ready!” I pulled down my face mask as he softly yelped. Gobble! Gobble!!! They were coming back! Kent pointed for me to change positions. As quickly and quietly as I could I moved into position. The birds gobbled again! I shifted a little to be able to make the shot when they passed through an opening in the brush. I could see them now 50 yards away looking for the hen that was calling to them. Suddenly again they started trotting to the right! I would not get a shot from the position I was in! As soon as both birds were obscured by brush I shifted right and aimed for the only window I had on that side. Just as the first bird stepped into the opening Kent yelped and the bird stopped and looked down the lane strait at me! I lined the bead from my double barrel up with his neck wattles and pulled the trigger! The hammer went down and the right barrel roared and belched smoke! The Smoke hung under the trees but I could see the tom flopping in the sunlight at the end of the narrow shooting lane!
The other tom ran past mine at the shot! As the confused tom passed the last patch of brush, Kent yelped to him. By the grace of god the tom turned and started coming toward him! Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I saw a puff of smoke and the report of Kent’s double barrel! I looked over to see the other tom flopping on the grass! We had taken a “Double with our Double’s!!”
This would be Kent’s 21st turkey using black powder and my 8th using black powder! We had worked hard and persisted and we were rewarded! When we brought our birds together we knelt down and thanked the good lord for blessing us with a bountiful harvest and great fellowship. Taking Birds is always a blessing and twice as rewarding with a smokepole, but its tenfold when you can share it with a great friend.
Kent’s tom sported a 9 inch beard and ½ inch spurs and mine had a 8 inch beard and 7/8 inch spurs! To date this bird has the longest spurs I have ever harvested!
Thank you Kent for an awesome turkey Hunt!!
After a long drive to Oregon where my buddy Kent and his family live, I thought to myself as I drifted off to sleep the night before opening morning, “Even if I don’t kill a bird, it was worth the trip!” It did my heart good to see my good friend and his family. To spend time with them in a little piece of heaven made by our Creators hand was awesome and I was blessed to have the opportunity. I had not hunted with my friend in 16 years and time spent with good friends is time well spent!
After the standard pre hunt night of waking every hour, opening morning finally arrived! Since we had not been able to roost any birds and the weather was still forecasting cold and wet, we decided not to rush out at first light. Both Kent and I were up well before we said we were going to get up in anticipation. The Forecast was right on for once as we headed to the turkey woods. Kent said we would try and locate some birds he had been seeing and make plans from there. As we climbed higher into the mountains the rain turned to snow and the land turned white. Beautiful as it was, it was not going to help the hunt. We gave it our best, braving the conditions, we saw a lot of birds but the cold and wet did not have them thinking about love, AT ALL!!
The next morning broke clear and cool. We noticed as we were getting into the truck to leave that all the little song birds were singing their hearts out. We knew today would be different. As we stopped at the last place we saw three toms the day before the sun peaked over the horizon. Kent let out a string of hen yelps and the birds thundered a response!! We looked at the situation and decided there was too much to go wrong where we were so we decided to try a different area. We tried to locate birds at several locations to no avail.
We drove until the road was impassible with snow drifts and then hiked out to a little point to call. Immediately several toms thundered back. They were on the ridge to the North with a deep canyon between us. Kent said we did not want to bail off into the canyon, but there was a road that was also blocked with snow that we could walk. After looking at the maps, and figuring it was a 3.5 mile walk we decided to go for it.
Knowing it would be a long haul, we made a couple of sandwiches, loaded up with water, grabbed the necessary gear and headed out. The first mile was over snow drifts with as much as 2 feet of hard snow. Gradually the snow drifts receded as the road shifted to an east/west direction. As we made our way we could hear the sound of male ruffed grouse drumming up a storm to attract a mate. The Warm spring air had brought love into the air once again. Luckily Kent knew the area well, several times I thought to myself, “this would be a perfect place to set up”, but Kent knew where we needed to be and that we still had a ways to go. Finally we reached a large opening. Kent slowed to a crawl as we eased to the edge. Kent let out a crow call to see if the birds would shock gobble but the meadow was silent.
Kent said that there is another meadow further down the ridge line and that the birds may be there so we quietly made our way to the next meadow. Slowly we eased to the edge of the second opening. Kent crow called again. And again we heard no response. With no birds responding to the crow calls we decided to try setting up and hen calling.
After setting out a hen decoy and finding good places to sit, Kent softly yelped, but there was no response. After a few minutes he yelped a little louder, and again there was no response. On the third round he got real aggressive and yelped as loud as he could, this time the toms Thundered back!! Three from further down the ridge and one from the ridge where the truck was parked on! Go figure! After a little back and forth we could tell the gobblers did not want to come to us, so we moved toward them.
Kent yelped softly. This time we were close enough that the toms could not resist and they thundered back with lustful gobbles! As I sat there, I thought my heart would jump from my chest with every gobble. These toms were Hot and gobbled and double gobbled at every sweet hen sound Kent made. Finally I saw two longbeards come strutting into a small opening about 80 yards out. I was ready! All they needed to do was come in another 50 yards and I would have a shot. Now I could see that they were both magnificent long bearded Thunder Chickens! 30 more yards! 20 More Yards!
Suddenly the birds trotted left and out of my field of fire! Kent called to them aggressively to get them to change direction but they only gobble as they faded into the timber. I shifted my position to try and get a shot but the trees were too thick. Kent’s yelps pleaded with them to return. But there was only silence!
I turned to look at Kent and we both shrugged. What could have gone wrong? Had they been called in before? Did they spook when they saw the decoy? Did they see me? As we gathered our stuff, all these questions ran through my mind. Questions I figured would never get answered.
Kent said, “ there was three birds over here earlier, maybe we can call in the other bird?” We slowly moved further down the ridge into another meadow. This particular meadow was full of turkey tracks and droppings; there were even strut marks on the road. It was a strut zone, and a heavily used one at that. Kent wanted to get closer to where he thought that other bird might be so we kept going.
Suddenly we heard an UTV coming down an old spur road toward us. To not spook the birds with talking we got off the road a ways and let the other hunter drive past us. We could hear them talking as they drove past us. Kent thought they looked like bear hunters as they were not in full camo. Unfortunately they noisily drove off in the direction we had planned to go after the other bird. Darn it!!
Kent thought for a moment and said, “That is what spooked those birds, They heard that UTV coming long before we did and did not want to be caught in the open.” We decided that since the meadow we had just passed through was a major strut zone, as soon as things calmed down they would be back. So we found a spot to set up on the edge of the zone and sat down. We took out our sandwiches and quietly ate a snack. The birds were singing and the sun was shining. It was a beautiful day to be in the turkey woods with a good friend!
As I finished my sandwich and took a drink of nice cold water, Kent said “Did you hear that Gobble!?!?” My hearing is terrible so shook my head in the negaitive, I halfway thought he was pulling my leg. He said “Get ready!” I pulled down my face mask as he softly yelped. Gobble! Gobble!!! They were coming back! Kent pointed for me to change positions. As quickly and quietly as I could I moved into position. The birds gobbled again! I shifted a little to be able to make the shot when they passed through an opening in the brush. I could see them now 50 yards away looking for the hen that was calling to them. Suddenly again they started trotting to the right! I would not get a shot from the position I was in! As soon as both birds were obscured by brush I shifted right and aimed for the only window I had on that side. Just as the first bird stepped into the opening Kent yelped and the bird stopped and looked down the lane strait at me! I lined the bead from my double barrel up with his neck wattles and pulled the trigger! The hammer went down and the right barrel roared and belched smoke! The Smoke hung under the trees but I could see the tom flopping in the sunlight at the end of the narrow shooting lane!
The other tom ran past mine at the shot! As the confused tom passed the last patch of brush, Kent yelped to him. By the grace of god the tom turned and started coming toward him! Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I saw a puff of smoke and the report of Kent’s double barrel! I looked over to see the other tom flopping on the grass! We had taken a “Double with our Double’s!!”
This would be Kent’s 21st turkey using black powder and my 8th using black powder! We had worked hard and persisted and we were rewarded! When we brought our birds together we knelt down and thanked the good lord for blessing us with a bountiful harvest and great fellowship. Taking Birds is always a blessing and twice as rewarding with a smokepole, but its tenfold when you can share it with a great friend.
Kent’s tom sported a 9 inch beard and ½ inch spurs and mine had a 8 inch beard and 7/8 inch spurs! To date this bird has the longest spurs I have ever harvested!
Thank you Kent for an awesome turkey Hunt!!
